Jazz Tribute: Honoring Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn

doors 6:30 pm, show 7 pm

$15-30 *

As Creative Sanctuary wonders what the heck to do in this crazy present moment, honoring some ancestors seems apropos. As they’ve done for two years running, the house band (sometimes known as the Humboldt Jazz Collective) will honor Duke Ellington his closest collaborator, Billy Strayhorn (Composer of Take the A Train among many other Ellington hits).

“We’re keeping it simple this year and using a quintet for most of the show with some special guests. These were big band pieces originally, of course, but with Duke and Strayhorn’s compositions the material is so deep that even with a small group there is still almost endless opportunity for exploration,” James Zeller says, “It allows us to be a bit more relaxed, and focus on the creative, improvised piece, worrying a little less about arrangements and reading parts as we’ve done in the past.…